That Goy Gay Guy

I'm reading The Wandering Who, a Study of Jewish Identity Politics, by Gilad Aztmon. It's biting commentary on tribal thinking, marginal bias, and internalized ideas of racial exceptionalism. He frequently references Gay Lib as an analogy for Zionism and I can't disagree - some of the parallels are obvious - except that queers ran through the process in a bit over 40 years, not several millennia.

Gay with a capital G tribal identity was born 6/28/69 - the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, NYC, and 43 years later, same-sex couples can legally marry in the State of Washington as of 12/6/12. We, the formerly marginalized, now openly host talk shows on TV, run corporations, enlist in the army, join churches and even get married within them. We're at that point of cultural assimilation where pretty soon there won't be any need for gay bars, rainbow flags or pride parades, except as quaint reminders of a culture that grew up in the margins of a formerly homophobic society. It's a stunning turn around, and it all happened during my lifetime.

On one hand I'll miss the camaraderie. There is a secret delight in secret bars, signals and codes that are only known to "insiders". There is also a certain clarity that comes with a marginalized existence, a right of cultural criticism that is earned only once you step outside the boundaries of Normal.

On the other hand, I won't miss the religious demonizing, shunning, slurring, bashing, teen suicides and all the rest.

Unlike the Jews, the Gays don't have a particular religion attached, unless you consider cock sucking to be a religion, which I sorta do. However we haven't made some crazy cult out of it, and even if we did, we'd only be echoing certain orgiastic "Dionysian" fertility cults that go back a long way before Abraham was ever born. If anything, the gay "religion" is a return to the Id, an acceptance and even celebration of a side of human consciousness that seemed nearly DOA at birth, but instead grew and flourished, even through hardships that would have challenged even Moses. I suppose the only truly exceptional "quality" you can pin on gay men is our horniness.

Like Judaism, you don't have to be born gay to be "gay", and I've met plenty of straight folks who are much gayer than I. Likewise, it is now fine to be a gay prude, in fact, you can now be a gay anything, including a gay Jew. Embracing the Id tends to make us feel happy and fulfilled (when not stymied by cultural taboos), so in a while, the word gay may evolve back into its original meaning.

lighthearted and carefree : Nan had a gay disposition and a very pretty face.
characterized by cheerfulness or pleasure : we had a gay old time.

I like how the meaning of gay is similar to Jovial, related to Jove or Jupiter. The dawning of the Age of Aquarius is the re-acceptance of the Id - our inner "gay".

Currently gay may also means "stupid" or "lame", yet another cosmic joke, because Hephaestus or Vulcan was the "lame god", who was rescued by Dionysus and returned to Mt. Olympus.

Happy and gay is he who lives in harmony with his own Id.

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NOTES:

Legal Gay marriage AND legal Mary Jane, all on the same day. If that's not the Promised Land, it's pretty damn close.

Apparently Goy Gay is not my own clever idea.